Clinical Hypnosis Course Content

Module 1:
Essential Techniques
in Clinical Hypnosis

Topics Covered

Getting Started

  • Introduction to studying hypnosis
  • David’s Introduction to his Course
  • Some important information and reminders
  • What is Hypnosis?
  • A Brief History of Hypnosis
  • History of Hypnosis: The Modern Era
  • Module One Audio Files – David Kennedy Lectures 

Understanding Trance

  • What is Trance?
  • Common Misconceptions About Hypnosis
  • The Induction of Trance: The trance state
  • Trance Induction: Focused Attention
  • Basic Elements of the Induction
  • Testing and Trance Ratification
  • The Stages of Induction & Trance Development
  • Advice for the Beginner Hypnotist
  • Waking Suggestion Techniques
  • Foundation Techniques Videos: Series One 

Suggestibility & Basic Hypnotic Inductions

  • Advice for the Beginner II
  • The Hypnotic Induction Profile Test (H.I.P.)
  • SCRIPTS: Simple suggestibility tests
  • A Useful Equation, revisited
  • Relaxation and the hypnotic state
  • SCRIPT: Trance Induction using Progressive Relaxation
  • SCRIPT: Progressive Relaxation Trance Induction Script II

The Mind, Consciousness, and Hypnosis

  • The Divided Mind
  • Levels of Mental Acuity
  • Depth of Hypnosis & Hypnotic Responsiveness
  • Altered States through Other Eyes: Levels of Consciousness

Practical Procedures

  • Tracking Trance Progress
  • Deepening Techniques
  • Rapid Induction
  • VIDEO DEMONSTRATION: The Role of Suggestion & Rapid Induction
  • Terminating the Trance
  • A Simple Template of a Hypnosis Session
  • VIDEO: Demonstration of Post-Hypnotic Suggestion & Post-Hypnotic Amnesia 

Putting it all Together

  • A Variation on the Dave Elman Procedure
  • Learned Behavioural Patterns & Adapting to Change
  • Difficulties: Trance Resistance
  • SCRIPTS: Three Basic Induction Procedures
  • A Deepening Procedure
  • SCRIPTS: A System of Trance Induction, Deepening and Post-hypnotic Conditioning
  • VIDEO: David Reviews the Basics 

Module 2:
The Utilisation Process &
The Role of Suggestion

Topics Covered

SUGGESTION

  • On Suggestion: Is this what hypnosis is all about?
  • An Overview of Suggestion
  • Direct Suggestion vs. Indirect Suggestion: Which shall it be?
  • Principles of Suggestion and its relationship to Trance
  • Response to Suggestion
  • Formulating Hypnotic Suggestion
  • The Laws of Suggestion: Baudouin, Coué, et al
  • More on The Law of Reversed Mental Effort
  • Presenting Suggestions
  • Handling failure to respond to suggestion
  • AUDIO LECTURE: Suggestibility Tests / Suggestion Language

MORE COMPLEX TYPES OF SUGGESTION

  • Contingent Suggestions
  • The Implied Directive
  • Apposition of Opposites, Interspersing, Confusional & Pun Suggestions

MILTON ERICKSON

  • Why do we study Milton Erickson?
  • A short biography of Milton Erickson
  • A Summary of the ‘Ericksonian’ approach to Therapy
  • Erickson Examined by Others – Jay Haley and John Beahrs
  • Erickson Examined by Others: Richard Bandler & John Grinder
  • Erickson Examined by Others: Ernest Rossi
  • What is the Utilisation Approach to Hypnotherapy?
  • Rossi & Erickson: The Utilisation Process
  • AUDIO LECTURE: Model of a Session | Ericksonian Approaches | Case Histories

LANGUAGE PATTERNS OF HYPNOSIS

  • The relationship of NLP to hypnosis
  • The Milton Model: Pacing & Leading
  • The Milton Model: Essential linguistic patterns
  • The Milton Model: Ambiguity, derived meanings & other structures

MORE ON THE INDUCTION:

  • Progressing from the ‘Interview’ into Formal Hypnosis
  • Trance Induction & The Utilisation Method
  • The Dynamics of Trance Induction: Rossi’s 5 step paradigm
  • Hypnotic Phenomena – ‘Classical’ and more generalised
  • AUDIO LECTURE – Physical Responses of a Hypnotised Subject
  • The principles of trance ratification
  • VIDEO LECTURE: Fundamental Principles of a Hypnotherapy Session 2 

INNER SEARCH: THE EXPLORATORY TRANCE

  • What is the ‘Exploratory Trance’ process?
  • The Exploratory Trance Process
  • An alternative version of the Exploratory Trance, for diagnostic purposes
  • SCRIPT: The Exploratory Trance

A Model of a Session working in the ‘Utilisation Approach’

  • VIDEO LECTURE: – A Model of a Session | Demonstration – Induction
  • AUDIO LECTURE: General Discussion on Running a Session | Demonstration
  • Further ideas on the elements of a hypnosis session

EGO-STRENGTHENING

  • What is Ego-Strengthening?
  • SCRIPT: Hartland’s Ego-Strengthening One
  • SCRIPT: Hartland’s Ego-Strengthening Two

Module 3:
Mind-Body Therapy

Topics Covered

AGE REGRESSION

  • Universal Experience in spontaneous age aggression
  •  Partial age Regression

FIVE OTHER HYPNOTIC PHENOMENA

  • Amnesia
  • Anaesthesia
  • Catalepsy
  • Time Distortion
  • Hallucination
  • Their application in the management of pain and sympton resolution as well as general usage

DEEP TRANCE PHENOMENA

  • The role of suggestion

IDEODYNAMICS

  • Psychobiology of mind and body
  • Ideomotor signalling
  • Truisms using ideodynamics
  • Ideosensory and Ideocognitive effects

HYPNOSIS AND SUGGESTION IN THE TREATMENT OF PAIN

  • Emotional and physiological pain

STATE BOUND THEORY

  • Edelstein’s Ego Parts Therapy
  • Sensory Systems in Communication

Module 4:
Neurolinguistics and Ericksonianism

Topics Covered

NLP FOR HYPNOTHERAPISTS

  • Introduction
  • Before we begin: a note on jargon
  • A return to source
  • Presuppositions
  • Choice & outcome
  • Maps & models
  • Filter; then delete, distort, generalise
  • Learning, unlearning, relearning
  • Language & inner experience
  • A Summary of NLP

REPRESENTATIONAL SYSTEMS

  • Sensory preferences
  • Representational systems in Practice
  • Submodalities
  • Representational Systems & Hypnotic Language
  • Eye Signs and representational systems

THE UTILISATION APPROACH & NLP

  • David on Problem Solving and the Utilisation Approach
  • Dynamism & the utilisation approach
  • Rapport
  • Strategies for building therapeutic rapport
  • Assessing your clients: what to look for
  • VIDEO DEMONSTRATION: Hypnosis session using process language 

DOING ‘CHANGEWORK’

  • An NLP model for change, after Robert Dilts
  • Change occurs at different levels
  • Three step procedure for change
  • Audio Lectures: NLP for Hypnotherapists

REFRAMING

  • Introduction: The Stonecutter
  • Reframing: creating greater choices
  • Reframing as a model
  • Uncovering common abilities
  • SCRIPT: Reframing using ideodynamics and hypnosis
  • Case history: an example of reframing in therapy

SUBTLE APPROACHES

  • Natural trance states
  • Analogue marking & embedded commands
  • Future pacing

PATTERN INTERRUPTION: Anchoring

  • An introduction to anchoring
  • Auditory, visual and kinaesthetic pattern interruption
  • GUIDE: Anchoring process for behaviour change
  • Remedial realities procedure
  • VIDEO DEMONSTRATION: Using anchoring for a phobia
  • VIDEO LECTURE: Anchoring discussion 

PATTERN INTERRUPTION: The Swish

  • Introduction to The Swish
  • David on the Swish as a phobia ‘cure’
  • The Swish process
  • VIDEO LECTURE: Demonstration of The Swish
  • Associated & Dissociated Feeling States: An exercise in gathering information
  • Alert-Divert Technique

FURTHER STUDY: NLP Resources for your consideration

  • Introduction
  • Some thoughts on Beliefs & Belief Strategies
  • The Meta Model: The Questions
  • Change History Technique outline (anchoring)
  • Time Lines & Time Line Therapy
  • Circles of Excellence

Module 5:
Psychotherapy Using Hypnosis –
The Dynamics of Hypnotherapy –
Practical Approaches

Topics Covered

IDEAS ON CONSCIOUSNESS & TRANCE

  • Introduction
  • Thoughts to frame our study here
  • A philosophical consideration of the work of the hypnotist

BEING A HYPNOTHERAPIST

  • What it takes
  • Can it be taught?
  • Who are you, and what do you intend?
  • Some suggested reading for the dedicated practitioner

TRANCEWORK IN PRACTICE: DOING THERAPY

  • The very real problem of becoming an effective hypnotherapist
  • Doing the work
  • Things of importance when considering your approach
  • Consideration of language
  • The issues in therapy
  • It all rests on trance
  • A model of a session
  • What we can learn from the stage hypnotists
  • The Therapeutic Hypnosis Session: remembering who it’s all about
  • Influence and persuasion: a caution
  • Sessions: number, frequency, duration.
  • Audio: A general discussion about session work

PSYCHOTHERAPY USING HYPNOSIS

  • The trance solution
  • Hypnosis + Psychotherapy = Hypnotherapy
  • Hypnosis beyond suggestion
  • Resistance
  • Audio Discussion: Observation

REVISITING PSYCHOSOMATICS AND SYMPTOMS

  • Psychosomatics and the symptom dilemma
  • Psychosomatics and hypnosis
  • Revisiting Rossi’s 5 step paradigm

HYPNOTIC LANGUAGE PATTERNS IN TRANCEWORK

  • Constructing hypnotic language: Revision
  • Truisms and hypnotic phenomena
  • Ideodynamic processes and language
  • Audio Discussion & Demonstration:
  • Ideodynamics
  • Personalising metaphors
  • Hypnotic phrasing
  • Stacking presuppositions
  • Creating a reality overload

REVISITING SUGGESTIONS: THEORY AND FURTHER IDEAS

  • Delivering suggestions
  • Not knowing, not doing
  • Open-ended suggestions
  • A model for suggesting a particular response
  • Implied directives: let every word count
  • REVISION: More complex suggestion models
  • AUDIO: Demonstration, patterns of behaviour

EXERCISES FOR EXPLORATION

  • Pre-trance exploratory work: a 3-step approach
  • Steps in the hypnotherapeutic process
  • Audio Discussion & Demonstration: Script Delivery

HABIT CONTROL USING HYPNOSIS

  • Introduction… to therapeutic protocols?
  • “But I don’t want to work with smokers…”
  • Structuring your approach
  • David on issues and intervention in habit control
  • David’s Quit Smoking approach
  • Other ideas about quitting smoking
  • Weight loss, health and eating patterns: some ideas
  • Habit or addiction?
  • Issues in practice we’ve identified through experience

FINAL THOUGHTS & SUGGESTED FURTHER STUDY

  • Suggested resources
  • AUDIO: Closing group hypnosis session

THE LIFE’S WORK OF ONE HYPNOTHERAPIST

  • Introduction
  • Hypnosis, spirit and healing: Part 1 (70:31)
  • Hypnosis, spirit and healing: Part 2 (38:10)
  • Hypnosis, spirit and healing: Part 3 (32:10)

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